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Measuring & Mapping

Where, how far, and how much? People have invented an astonishing array of devices to answer seemingly simple questions like these. Measuring and mapping objects in the Museum's collections include the instruments of the famous—Thomas Jefferson's thermometer and a pocket compass used by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their expedition across the American West. A timing device was part of the pioneering motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge in the late 1800s. Time measurement is represented in clocks from simple sundials to precise chronometers for mapping, surveying, and finding longitude. Everyday objects tell part of the story, too, from tape measures and electrical meters to more than 300 scales to measure food and drink. Maps of many kinds fill out the collections, from railroad surveys to star charts.

This mercury-in-glass thermometer with a fairly large cylindrical bulb could probably float in water. An auxiliary glass tube attached to the stem holds a hand-written piece of paper marked “Thermometre Selon Fahrenheit et Decimal par Pixii rue du Jardinet N° 2 A Paris.” This paper also carries two parallel scales. One extends from -30 to +127 graduated every degree, with indications for “Glace Tempere” at zero and “Eau Bte” at 100. The other extends from -22 to +260, graduated every 2 degrees.

This thermometer was made between 1818 and 1838 when Pixii worked at rue du Jardinet N° 2. It was probably owned by the American scientist, John William Draper.

This is an alcohol-in-glass thermometer 12 inches long. The back of the stem is milk white and marked "Henry J. Green, Brooklyn, N.Y. No. 8067." The clear front is graduated, in reverse, every ½ degree Fahrenheit from 80 to 0.

This mercury-in-glass thermometer has a bend in the stem that accommodates a rolled piece of paper on which is written, in ink: “Thermometer nach Réaumur & Fahrenheit.” The left side of the scale extends from -32 to +55, graduated by degrees Réaumur, with “E.P.” (German for ice point) at zero; the right side extends from -40 to +150, graduated every two degrees Fahrenheit. The whole is enclosed in an outer glass casing. It came to the Smithsonian from the U.S. Military Academy.

This is an unusually precise mercury-in-glass thermometer that was designed to measure temperatures over a very small range, especially near the melting and freezing points of substances. Ernest Otto Beckmann, a physical chemist who worked with Wilhelm Ostwald in Leipzig, described the form in 1888.

This example has a long cylindrical bulb at the bottom, an s-shaped tube with auxiliary bulb at the top, and a porcelain plate carrying a scale that ranges from -.04 to +1.1 degrees Centigrade and that is graduated to 0.002 degrees. The back of the plate is marked “Centigrade” and “Thermometer n. Beckmann.” The whole is enclosed in a cylindrical glass tube with brass cap.

This instrument was used at the Johns Hopkins University, perhaps by Harry C. Jones, a chemist who received his PhD from Hopkins in 1892, spent two years working in the laboratories of Ostwald and other important European chemists, and then returned to Hopkins to teach physical chemistry. It may have been made by F. O. R. Goetze, a Leipzig firm that specialized in thermometers of this sort.

This mercury-in-glass thermometer has a cylindrical bulb. A milk white plate carries a scale that ranges from -20 to +360 degrees Centigrade graduated every degree. The back of the plate is marked “72.” The thermometer tube is joined to the plate only at the top. The whole is enclosed in a glass tube. It came to the Smithsonian from the Johns Hopkins University.

How do you know you are running a temperature? Do you feel hot or do you feel cold? There are many ways to determine body temperature. A hand placed on the forehead can indicate someone is hot or "feverish." For a more accurate measurement of someone's temperature, you need a clinical thermometer. Mouth,axilla (armpit), ear, and rectal are some of the different types of clinical thermometers.

Clinical thermometers for measuring body temperature were introduced in the 17th century. But, they did not become an integral part of the physician's armamentarium until after the American Civil War.

Early clinical thermometers were thin tubes of glass containing mercury, mounted to a rectangular piece of ivory or wood. The calibration, or graduated scale, was engraved into the mount.

This axilla thermometer was sold by Francis Arnold, of Baltimore, Maryland. Arnold was listed as a surgical instrument maker on South Sharp Street in the Baltimore City Directory from 1845 to 1874.

This mercury-in-glass thermometer has a bend in the stem that accommodates a white porcelain plate. This plate carries a scale that extends from -23 to +50 degrees, graduated in fifths; it is marked “Celsius” and, at zero degrees, “E.P.” (German for ice point). The whole is enclosed in an outer glass casing with a brass cap. It came to the Smithsonian from the U.S. Military Academy.

This mercury-in-glass thermometer has a cylindrical bulb. The back of the stem is milk white; the front carries a scale, on its upper part, that extends from 100 to 200, graduated by degrees Centigrade. It came to the Smithsonian from the U.S. Military Academy.

This small mercury-in-glass thermometer is mounted on a flat ivory plate that is marked "J. GREEN N.Y." and graduated every degree [Fahrenheit?] from +185 to +245. There are no graduations or marks on the stem. It was made between 1849 (when James Green began in business in New York) and 1879 (when he took his nephew into partnership and began trading as J. & H. J. Green). It came to the Smithsonian from the U.S. Military Academy.

This mercury-in-glass thermometer has a cylindrical bulb. The back of the stem is milk glass. The clear front is marked "J. & H. J. Green. N.Y. No. 734" and graduated every degree Fahrenheit from -40 to +125. It was made between 1879 and 1885 when James Green worked in partnership with his nephew Henry.